The present invention relates generally to mirrors carried in the back seat of an automobile to view a rear facing infant. More particularly, the present invention provides a convex mirror carried on the body of a stuffed animal which may be utilized in viewing a rear facing infant in the back seat of an automobile and, alternately, may be supported on an article of household furniture.
The prior art includes various types of mirror assemblies for viewing a rear facing infant in the back seat of the automobile. For example, Harris U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,118 dated Feb. 20, 1990 teaches a planar mirror carried in a wedge-shaped support assembly and attached to the rear seat by straps and buckles that extend around the rear back seat. The Harris patent has several drawbacks, including the rather lengthy straps that must be utilized to support the mirror assembly to the rear seat. Such straps can be dangerous to infants should they become loose. A secondary drawback is that the planar mirror has a limited field of reflecting the image of the infant's face.
The Erickson U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,956 dated Mar. 29, 1988 shows another safety system for viewing infants in the rear seat utilizing a mirror assembly carried by the rear windshield. A disadvantage of the Erickson device is that the mirror occupies a considerable portion of the field of view through the rear windshield and increases the driver's "blind spot." Furthermore, the Erickson system includes a mirror which is rigidly attached to the back windshield and is not capable of being used on an article of furniture.
The Nolan-Brown U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,321 dated Feb. 8, 1994 teaches an observation mirror suspended from the top of the rear seat. The primary drawback of this device is that it utilizes a large metallic safety pin to attach the mirror to the seat. The large safety pin represents a serious threat to the infant should the mirror and/or safety pin become dislodged and should the infant be able to grasp the safety pin.
The Cossey U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,572 dated Oct. 27, 1987 teaches an adjustable mirror mounted above the rear seat incorporating a cumbersome and complex mounting mechanism that extends over the top of the back seat. This design includes the primary drawback of partially obstructing the driver's view through the back windshield and increases the driver's "blind spot." A second disadvantage is that this patent teaches a rather cumbersome and relatively heavy support mechanism for the mirror.
The present invention provides an extremely versatile and adjustable mirror support assembly for use in observing infants in automobile seats. In contrast to the prior art, the present invention can be readily removed from the automobile seat and suspended from an article of furniture. Furthermore, when the infant is old enough to face forwardly in a car seat, the present invention can be mounted to the back of the front seat and utilized to entertain the infant.
The present invention accomplishes the goal of providing visibility of a rear facing infant without increasing the "blind spot" of the driver looking through the rear view mirror of the automobile. The present invention also allows observation of the infant without including items of danger to the infant, such as large metallic safety pins or lengthy straps in which the infant may become entangled.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide an adjustable mirror support assembly for use in observing rear facing infants in an automobile without obstructing any of the driver's field of vision through the rear view mirror.
A further object of the invention is to provide an adjustable mirror support assembly for observing rear facing infants which does not include apparatus in the support assembly which presents a significant danger to the infant.
A further object of the invention is to provide an adjustable mirror support assembly in which the mirror is a lightweight plastic convex mirror carried on the body of a stuffed animal and which is pleasant and entertaining to the infant.
A further object of the invention is to provide a stuffed animal mirror which can be suspended from either the rear of front seat of an automobile or from an article of furniture.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an infant observation mirror providing an extremely wide angle view of the infant's face.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an observation mirror for rear facing infants with a pivoting feature which inherently tends to keep the infant's face centered in the field of view as the mirror is adjusted upwardly and downwardly.